Originally Posted by
Tom Haywood
Using your own wood for mandolin fret boards, I think you have to have a way to get a rectangle that has straight sides, 90° corners, even thickness, and flat planed bottom and top, before you begin to set up the wood to cut fret slots. With a good blank, cutting fret slots by hand is more difficult to think about than to do. I think the required tools are: good eyesight, steady hand, good millimeter ruler, good sharp scribe to start the cut. One of the few "luthier" tools I've purchased that I think is worth the money is the fret saw with adjustable depth gauge that StewMac sells. I don't think the miter jig is necessary, because you can easily set up a clamped guide for your saw with a few pieces of wood. There are a couple of web sites that will allow you to make an accurate printout to use as a guide for locating the slots. I also recommend creating a spreadsheet to do the math and give you the exact location of each slot. I do a hand-slotted fret board about once every two years - and only if I'm using a scale that a supplier won't cut. I'm working with a friend who purchased a CNC machine to get it set up to do fret boards. IMO that's the way to go.
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